Jaipur: State-run universities and constituent colleges in BJP-ruled Rajasthan will not observe a holiday for Gandhi Jayanti on 2 October this year.

File image of Mahatma Gandhi.

"We have decided not to observe the holiday on Gandhi Jayanti in the state-run universities and colleges so that it can be celebrated in the institutions on that day," higher education minister Kiran Maheshwari told PTI.

She said the changes in the new holiday calendar for the academic year 2017-18 has been issued in which the amendment has been made.

The calendar was forwarded to the Raj Bhawan from there it was sent to 12 state universities some time back, she added.

On 16 March, 2015, the BJP government in Goa had dropped Gandhi Jayanti on 2 October from the list of public holidays. The decision had triggered strong reactions from a section of legislators in the state.

Gandhi Jayanti has been celebrated all over the country for decades, with the entire nation gratefully recalling the services of the Mahatma, who led the struggle against the British rule through non-violent means.